All things freshwater: news, analysis, humor, reviews, and commentary from Michael E. 'Aquadoc' Campana, hydrogeologist, hydrophilanthropist, Professor of Hydrogeology and Water Resources Management in the Geography Program of the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS) at Oregon State University and Emeritus Professor of Hydrogeology at the University of New Mexico. He is Past President of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA), Past Chair of the Scientists & Engineers Division of the National Ground Water Association (NGWA), Past President of the nonprofit NGWA Foundation and President and Founder the nonprofit Ann Campana Judge Foundation, an organization involved with WaSH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) in Central America. He serves on the Steering Committee of the Global Water Partnership (GWP). CYA statement: with the exception of guest posts, the opinions expressed herein are solely those of Michael E. Campana and not those of CEOAS, Oregon State University, ACJF, AWRA, NGWA, GWP, my spouse Mary Frances, or any other person or organization.

Texas Agriculture Law BlogDon't let the name fool you - there are lots of water issues in agriculture and Tiffany Dowell of Texas A&M University does a fabulous job with this important Internet resource. Give it a read - I do every day!

The Way of WaterDr. Jennifer Veilleux records her fieldwork, research, and thoughts about water resources development and management, indigenous rights, ethics, and a host of other issues.

Thirsty in SuburbiaGayle Leonard documents things from the world of water that make us smile: particularly funny, amusing and weird items on bottled water, water towers, water marketing, recycling, the art-water nexus and working.

This Day in Water HistoryMichael J. 'Mike' McGuire, engineer extraordinaire, NAE member, and author of 'The Chlorine Revolution', blogs about historical happenings in the fields of drinking water and wastewater keyed to calendar dates.

Watershed Moments: Thoughts from the HydrosphereFrom Sarah Boon - rediscovering her writing and editing roots after 13 years, primarily as an environmental scientist. Her writing centres around creative non-fiction, specifically memoir and nature writing. The landscapes of western Canada are her main inspiration.

WaterWiredAll things freshwater: news, comment, publications and analysis from hydrogeologist Michael E. Campana, Professor at Oregon State University and Technical Director of the AWRA.

I enjoyed it - a very readable history on groundwater and where it is today (11 years ago). Stilll a very relevant document by an incredibly talented man. I had forgotten he died in 2011. The last time I saw him was in October 2008 at the conference Todd Jarvis and I convened in Portland on Nonrenewable Ground Water Resources.He was the keynote speaker.

I had forgotten how much I miss him.

AbstractGroundwater has been used for domestic and irrigation needs from time immemorial. Yet its nature and occurrence have always possessed a certain mystery because water below the land surface is invisible and relatively inaccessible. The influence of this mystery lingers in some tenets that govern groundwater law. With the birth of modern geology during the late nineteenth century, groundwater science became recognized in its own right. Over the past two centuries, groundwater has lost its shroud of mystery, and its scientific understanding has gradually grown hand-in-hand with its development for human use. Groundwater is a component of the hydrological cycle, vital for human sustenance. Its annual renewability from precipitation is limited, and its chemical quality is vulnerable to degradation by human action. In many parts of the world, groundwater extraction is known to greatly exceed its renewability. Consequently, its rational management to benefit present and future generations is a matter of deep concern for many nations. Groundwater management is a challenging venture, requiring an integration of scientific knowledge with communal will to adapt to constraints of a finite common resource. As scientists and policy makers grapple with the tasks of groundwater management, it is instructive to reflect on the evolution of groundwater knowledge from its initial phase of demystification at the beginning of the nineteenth century, through successive phases of technological conquest, scientific integration, discovery of unintended consequences and the present recognition of an imperative for judicious management. The following retrospective provides a broad context for unifying the technical contributions that make up this focus issue on groundwater resources, climate and vulnerability.

1) IntroductionAt the beginning of the 21st century, concern exists worldwide for human sustenance on an Earth where finite water and land resources must be shared by humans and the environment. It is widely recognized that groundwater is a vital source of freshwater for communities around the world, and that this fragile natural resource is vulnerable to over-exploitation and chemical contamination, and constrained by climatic variability. Nations around the world are confronted with the difficult task of sustainable groundwater management (Morris et al 2003, Scheidleder et al 1999, Reilly et al 2008, Planning Commission 2007). This task is beset with challenges of science and technology, as well as of human behavior. There is much debate among scientists, social workers, policy makers and legislators on optimal groundwater management approaches.

Following Meinzer (1923), the term `groundwater' is here restricted to water that occurs below the water table, entirely saturating the pores of geological materials. The zone between the land surface and the water table where water and air coexist is referred to as the vadose zone, or the unsaturated zone. Water in this zone is referred to as soil water. Together, groundwater and soil water comprise subsurface water.

Groundwater is a remarkable natural phenomenon. Unlike surface water, groundwater cannot be readily observed. Consequently, groundwater was long considered to be mysterious or even occult in nature. This perception of mystery has historically influenced legal decisions relating to groundwater ownership and use (Acton v Blundell 1843). A rational understanding of the physical laws that describe groundwater has occurred only over the past century and a half. Simultaneously, groundwater has also been subjected to the influence of technological advances in pumps and power production. For these reasons, groundwater management is a multi-faceted task. Therefore, it is worthwhile to reflect on the different facets of groundwater as a natural phenomenon and as a vital natural resource. This work examines major developments in groundwater hydrology since the beginning of the nineteenth century. This history has been punctuated by periods with specific characteristics such as observation and discovery, technological conquest, scientific integration, unintended consequences and human adaptation. This historical overview provides a broad context within which the different technical contributions of this focus issue can be unified.

Skipping a lot here....

7. Where We AreGroundwater is no longer a mysterious phenomenon. We know it to be a component of the hydrological cycle, subject to well-established physical laws. It is a finite resource, vital for the survival of humans and other living things. Of the total quantity of freshwater stored in the groundwater reservoir, a small portion (less than ten per cent of annual precipitation) is replenished annually through recharge by precipitation. The remainder, accumulated over long time periods, may be considered non-renewable.

Only over the past 50 years or so have we begun to recognize that any diminution in the availability of groundwater can have a profound impact on human welfare. Reduced groundwater availability can occur either due to water extraction at rates exceeding annual renewability, or due to degradation of its quality that makes it unsafe for human consumption. There is serious concern among developed as well as developing nations that water in general, and groundwater in particular, cannot be expected to sustain arbitrarily high rates of economic, technological and population growth indefinitely into the future. Even maintaining stable conditions at the present levels or at very small rates of growth, groundwater has to be managed rationally and judiciously.

Meanwhile, the aforesaid concerns are compounded by the new and unexpected discovery of global warming. Concerns about global warming have begun to attract serious attention only over the past two decades. Regardless of whether it is caused by human action or not, there is compelling evidence that the Earth's climate is experiencing a warming trend. Global warming has direct implications on groundwater through the hydrological cycle. Changing patterns of precipitation and evapotranspiration will inevitably modify basin-wide groundwater flow patterns through changes in recharge–discharge relationships. Such modifications of groundwater flow patterns will occur on varying timescales and will have to be addressed on a site-specific basis. Nevertheless, there is one direct impact of global warming on groundwater that can be readily foreseen. This relates to coastal groundwater basins. If the sea level were to rise even by a few meters because of climate change, coastal aquifer systems around the world would become vulnerable to significant water quality degradation due to saltwater intrusion.

It is beyond dispute that groundwater management has to be based on scientific knowledge. However, science can only provide information on how the resource will respond to various developmental strategies. Optimal strategies that will result in maximum benefit to all segments of society and the environment must be based on social values that lie beyond the scope of science. Thus, science and management policy are inexorably interwoven.

Science cannot create groundwater. It can, through sophisticated instruments, continuously observe the response of groundwater systems to climatic changes and human activities, foresee changes in the availability of resource (quantity as well as quality) and guide sustainable resource use. Here, sustainability implies stable availability of the resource for present and future generations. The challenge to science is twofold. First, because of the difficulty of accessing geological formations below the land surface, and the complexities of earth structure, characterizing the attributes of groundwater systems in sufficient detail to reasonably quantify its expected behavior is beset with imprecision. Second, climate, which is the primary force driving groundwater systems, changes in unpredictable ways. Under the circumstances, the best that science can do is to continuously observe groundwater systems in adequate detail so as to monitor how the system is responding, whether it is being unduly depleted, how water quality is changing and whether associated ecosystems are impacted. Ongoing, consistent monitored information provides the basis for management choices.

The human challenge is to formulate and implement laws, statutes and policies that translate scientific knowledge into adaptive human behavior. Democracy is currently the preferred form of self-governance around the world. Commonly, democracy is associated with individual rights to basic needs of clean water, as well as the rights to accumulate personal property and wealth. In a finite Earth where demand for water outstrips available freshwater supplies, rights of individuals have to be balanced by collective responsibilities. Such a balance requires that groundwater is managed and equitably shared among all segments of society. In formulating laws, policies and statutes to ensure a balance between rights and responsibilities democratic institutions are facing tremendous challenges. Water is a source of economic and political power. Consequently, achieving a balanced path between rights and responsibilities is difficult.

`Mankind is on the threshold of a transition from a brief interlude of exponential growth to a much longer period characterized by rates of change so slow as to be regarded essentially as a period of nongrowth. Although the impending period of transition to very low growth rates poses no insuperable physical or biological difficulties, those aspects of our current economic and social thinking which are based on the premise that current rates of growth can be sustained indefinitely must be revised. Failure to respond promptly and rationally to these impending changes could lead to a global ecological crisis in which human beings will be the main victims'.

Although this observation was made in the general context of Earth resources, it is equally applicable to groundwater. It is encouraging to note that there has been a gradual move in the United States, Europe and elsewhere towards implementing statutes and policies that would ensure scientific management of groundwater in conjunction with surface water. Much remains to be done to establish the scientific institutions needed for sustained monitoring of groundwater systems in adequate detail to facilitate rational management. Human behavior under stress is hard to predict. Hopefully, democracy will, in the future, evolve beyond rights into responsibilities, and pave the way for enlightened groundwater management. When that happens, the `jus gentium' vision of the sixth century Roman jurists will have been attained.

Enjoy!

"All water discharged by wells is balanced by a loss of water somewhere...This loss is always to some extent and in many cases largely from storage in the aquifer. Some ground water is always mined.” - C.V. Theis (1940)

Circle of BlueCircle of Blue uses journalism, scientific research, and conversations from around the world to bring the story of the global freshwater crisis to life. Here you’ll find new water reports, news headlines, and hear from leading scientists.

Drink Water For LifeThe idea is simple. Drink water or other cheap beverages instead of expensive lattes, sodas, and bottled water for a set period of time. A day, a week, a month, Lent, Ramadan, Passover, or some other holiday period.

eFlowNet NewsletterFrom the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) this newsletter has lots of information about environmental flows and related issues.

Sustainable Water Resources RoundtableSince 2002, the Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable (SWRR) has brought together federal, state, corporate, non-profit and academic sectors to advance our understanding of the nation’s water resources and to develop tools for their sustainable management.